Plans for first space nation ‘Asgardia’ revealed, citizenship applications opened

Get ready to pack your bags because there’s a new nation in town, or rather in space. Scientists have unveiled plans for “Asgardia”, a floating nation and defender of the Earth with room for 100,000 citizens.

Dr Igor Ashurbeyli of the Aerospace International Research Center announced the plans in Paris, saying Asgardia aims to “flourish free from the tight restrictions of state control that currently exist.” He announced the plans on the same day he became chairman of UNESCO’s Science of Space committee.

Ashurbeyli said their mission is to act as guardians of the Earth, and the “nation” would first get to work building a protective shield to protect Earth from debris, asteroids and coronal mass ejections from the sun.

Currently all space programs, including commercial, must be supervised and authorised by a government on Earth. When applications for Asgardian citizenship goes above 100,000 they can apply to the UN for the status of state, according to Ashurbeyli.

An online registration form is welcoming applications for citizenship, with the first 100,000 qualifying for automatic citizenship. No word yet on how people can become citizens in the future, or whether there’ll be a wall built between Asgardia and Earth.

Named after the city in the sky ruled by Odin in Norse mythology, Asgardia is the work of a team of scientists and legal experts who claim it will someday become a member of the United Nations with its own flag and national anthem.

Asgardia gets underway in late 2017, when the team plan to launch a satellite into a low-Earth orbit. Until then we’ll have to stay here on boring old Earth.